Sisters on the Planet call for eco-activism

Oxfam America honored women climate leaders at a Sisters on the Planet reception on Friday — but the event was hardly a women-only party. Many men came to pay tribute to these forward-thinking women — including two-time Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America), who’s an Oxfam America Global Ambassador.

Djimon and other environmental and social justice activists — many of whom had spent a long few days at the Governor’s Global Summit 2, hosted by California Governor Schwarzenegger — came to pay tribute to the three women honored with the inaugural Sisters on the Planet Climate Leaders Awards: U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency Linda Adams, and Hilary Krane from Levi Strauss & Company.

The Oxfam reception focused on the global perspective of climate change, with Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton (above), who served as the master of ceremonies, emphasizing the need for both “mitigation and adaptation” strategies to address climate change.

Abera Tola (right, with Linda Adams), the director of Oxfam America’s office in Ethiopia, noted that the conversation in Ethiopia already focuses 90% on adaptation — since global climate change and its devastating effects are already in effect — and since the poor or disadvantaged are often disproportionately affected by those effects.